Lamentations 1:4

Complete Jewish Bible

The roads to Tziyon are mourning because no one comes to the festivals. Her gateways are all deserted, her cohanim are groaning, her unmarried girls are grieving — how bitter it is for her!

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The roads to Zion mourn,for no one comes to the appointed festivals.All her gates are deserted;her priests groan,her young women grieve,and she herself is bitter.

Hebrew Names Version
The ways of Tziyon do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her Kohanim do sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

King James Version
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

English Standard Version
The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.

New American Standard Bible
The roads of Zion are in mourning Because no one comes to an appointed feast. All her gates are deserted; Her priests groan, Her virgins are worried, And as for Zion herself, it is bitter for her.

New Century Version
The roads to Jerusalem are sad, because no one comes for the feasts. No one passes through her gates. Her priests groan, her young women are suffering, and Jerusalem suffers terribly.

Amplified Bible
The roads to Zion are in mourning Because no one comes to the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests are groaning, Her virgins are grieved and suffering, And she suffers bitterly.

World English Bible
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The wayes of Zion lament, because no man commeth to the solemne feastes: all her gates are desolate: her Priests sigh: her virgins are discomfited, and she is in heauinesse.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The roads of Zion are in mourning Because no one comes to the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests are groaning, Her virgins are afflicted, And she herself is bitter.

Legacy Standard Bible
The roads of Zion are in mourningBecause no one comes to the appointed times.All her gates are desolate;Her priests are sighing,Her virgins are grieving,And she herself is bitter.

Berean Standard Bible
The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.

Contemporary English Version
The roads to Zion mourn because no one travels there to celebrate the festivals. The city gates are deserted; priests are weeping. Young women are raped; Zion is in sorrow!

Darby Translation
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly: all her gates are desolate; her priests sigh, her virgins are in grief; and as for her, she is in bitterness.

Easy-to-Read Version
The roads to Zion are very sad, because no one comes to Zion for the festivals anymore. All of Zion's gates have been destroyed; all her priests groan in sorrow. Zion's young women have been taken away, and all this made Zion sad.

George Lamsa Translation
The ways of Zion mourn because none come to the solemn feasts; all her gates are desolate; her priests sigh, her virgins are humbled? and she is in bitterness.

Good News Translation
No one comes to the Temple now to worship on the holy days. The young women who sang there suffer, and the priests can only groan. The city gates stand empty, and Zion is in agony.

Lexham English Bible
The roads of Zion are mourning because no one comes to the festival. All her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young women are worried, and she herself suffers bitterly.

Literal Translation
The roads of Zion are in mourning without any going to the appointed feasts . All her gates are deserted; her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted; and she is in bitterness.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The stretes of Sion mourne, because no man commeth more to the solempne feastes: All hir gates are desolate, hir prestes make lamentacion, hir maydens are carefull, and she herself is in greate heuynesse.

American Standard Version
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

Bible in Basic English
The ways of Zion are sad, because no one comes to the holy meeting; all her doorways are made waste, her priests are breathing out sorrow: her virgins are troubled, and it is bitter for her.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh; her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

King James Version (1611)
The wayes of Zion do mourne, because none come to the solemne feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh: her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitternesse.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The streetes of Sion mourne, because no man cometh no more to the solempne feastes: all her gates are desolate, her priestes make lamentatio, her maydens are carefull, and she her selfe is in great heauinesse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
DALETH. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the feast: all her gates are ruined: her priests groan, her virgins are led captive, and she is in bitterness in herself.

English Revised Version
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Deleth. The weies of Sion mourenen, for no men comen to the solempnytee; alle the yatis therof ben distried, the prestis therof weilen; the vergyns therof ben defoulid, and it is oppressid with bitternesse.

Update Bible Version
The ways of Zion mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

Webster's Bible Translation
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she [is] in bitterness.

New English Translation

ד (Dalet)

The roads to Zion mourn because no one travels to the festivals. All her city gates are deserted; her priests groan. Her virgins grieve; she is in bitter anguish!

New King James Version
The roads to Zion mourn Because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted, And she is in bitterness.

New Living Translation
The roads to Jerusalem are in mourning, for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals. The city gates are silent, her priests groan, her young women are crying— how bitter is her fate!

New Life Bible
The roads of Zion are filled with sorrow, because no one comes to the special suppers. All her gates are laid waste. Her religious leaders are crying in sorrow. Her pure young women are troubled, and she herself is in bitter suffering.

New Revised Standard
The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the festivals; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The ways to Zion, are mourning, because none come to her appointed feasts, All her gates, are desolate, her priests, are sighing, - her virgins, are grieved, and, she, it is bitter for her.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down; her priests sigh; her virgins are in affliction; and she is oppressed with bitterness.

Revised Standard Version
The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the appointed feasts; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her maidens have been dragged away, and she herself suffers bitterly.

Young's Literal Translation
The ways of Zion are mourning, Without any coming at the appointed time, All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted -- and she hath bitterness.

THE MESSAGE
Zion's roads weep, empty of pilgrims headed to the feasts. All her city gates are deserted, her priests in despair. Her virgins are sad. How bitter her fate.

Contextual Overview

¹ How lonely lies the city that once thronged with people! Once great among the nations, now she is like a widow! Once princess among provinces, she has become a vassal. ² Bitterly she weeps at night, tears running down her cheeks. Not one of all her lovers is there to comfort her. Her friends have all betrayed her; they have become her enemies. ³ Y'hudah has fled into exile from oppression and endless slavery. She lives among the nations, but there she finds no rest. Her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. ⁴ The roads to Tziyon are mourning because no one comes to the festivals. Her gateways are all deserted, her cohanim are groaning, her unmarried girls are grieving — how bitter it is for her! ⁵ Her foes have become the head, her enemies relax, for Adonai has made her suffer because of her many sins. Her young children have gone away captive before the foe. ⁶ All splendor has departed from the daughter of Tziyon. Her princes have become like deer unable to find pasture, running on, exhausted, fleeing from the hunter. ⁷ In the days of her affliction and anguish, Yerushalayim remembers all the treasures that were hers, ever since ancient times. Now her people fall into the power of the foe, and she has no one to help her; her enemies are gloating over her, mocking her desolation. ⁸ Yerushalayim sinned grievously; therefore she has become unclean. All who honored her now despise her, because they have seen her naked. She herself also moans and turns her face away. ⁹ Her filthiness was in her skirts; she gave no thought to how it would end. Hence her astounding downfall, with no one to console her. "Look, Adonai , how I suffer; for the foe has triumphed!" ¹⁰ Enemies have reached out their hands to seize all her treasures. She has seen Goyim approach and go inside her sanctuary, those whom you forbade even to enter your assembly.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ways: Lamentations 2:6, Lamentations 2:7, Lamentations 5:13, Isaiah 24:4-6, Jeremiah 14:2, Micah 3:12

all her gates: Lamentations 2:9, Jeremiah 9:11, Jeremiah 10:22, Jeremiah 33:10-12

her priests: Lamentations 1:11, Lamentations 1:12, Lamentations 1:18-20, Lamentations 2:10, Lamentations 2:11, Lamentations 2:19-21, Isaiah 32:9-14, Joel 1:8-13

Reciprocal: Leviticus 23:2 - the feasts Leviticus 26:22 - your high Judges 5:6 - the highways Psalms 144:14 - no breaking in Isaiah 3:26 - her gates Isaiah 24:12 - General Isaiah 27:10 - the defenced Isaiah 33:8 - highways Lamentations 1:8 - she sigheth Lamentations 3:47 - desolation Lamentations 5:14 - elders Ezekiel 5:14 - I will Joel 1:9 - the priests Zephaniah 3:18 - sorrowful

Cross-References

Genesis 1:10
God called the dry land Earth, the gathering together of the water he called Seas, and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:12
The earth brought forth grass, plants each yielding its own kind of seed, and trees each producing its own kind of seed-bearing fruit; and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:18
to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:25
God made each kind of wild beast, each kind of livestock and every kind of animal that crawls along the ground; and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:31
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.

Ecclesiastes 2:13
I saw that wisdom is more useful than foolishness, just as light is more useful than darkness.

Ecclesiastes 11:7
Then the light will be sweet, and it will be a pleasure to see the sun.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The ways of Zion do mourn,.... Being unoccupied, as in Judges 5:6; or unfrequented: this is said by a rhetorical figure; as ways may be said to rejoice, or look pleasant and cheerful, when there are many passengers in them, going to and fro; so they may be said to mourn, or to look dull and melancholy, when no person is met with, or seen in them; thus Jerusalem and the temple being destroyed, the ways which led from the one to the other, and in which used to be seen great numbers going up to the worship of God, which was pleasant to behold,

Psalms 42:4; now not one walking in them, and all overgrown with grass; and those roads which led from the several parts of the land to Jerusalem, whither the ten tribes went up to worship three times in the year, and used to travel in companies, which made it delightful and comfortable, and pleasant to look at, now none to be seen upon them; which was matter of grief to those that wished well to Zion; as it is to all truly godly persons to observe that the ways and worship of God are not frequented; that there are few inquiring the way to Zion above, or travelling in the road to heaven; as also when there are few that worship God in Zion below, or ask the way unto it, or walk in the ordinances of it:

because none come to the solemn feasts. Aben Ezra understands this of the sanctuary itself; which sense Abendana mentions; expressed by the word here used; and so called, because all Israel were convened here; but the Targum and Jarchi more rightly interpret it of the feasts, the three solemn feasts of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, at which all the males in Israel were obliged to appear; but now, the temple and city being in ruins, none came to them, which was a very distressing case; as it is to good men, when upon whatever occasion, either through persecution, or through sloth and negligence, the ministry of the word, and the administration of ordinances, particularly the Lord's supper, the solemn feasts under the Gospel dispensation, are not attended to:

all her gates are desolate; the gates of the temple; none passing through them into it to worship God, pray unto him, praise him, or offer sacrifice; or the gates of the city, none going to and fro in them; nor the elders sitting there in council, as in courts of judicature, to try causes, and do justice and judgment:

her priests sigh; the temple burnt; altars destroyed, and no sacrifices brought to be offered; and so no employment for them, and consequently no bread; but utterly deprived of their livelihood, and had good reason to sigh. The Targum adds,

"because the offerings ceased:''

her virgins are afflicted; or, "are sorrowful" m; are in grief and mourning, that used to be brisk and gay, and to play with timbrels at their festivals; so the Targum paraphrases it,

"the virgins mourn because they cease to go out on the fifteenth of Ab, and on the day of atonement, which was the tenth of Tisri, to dance in the dances:''

and she [is] in bitterness; that is, Zion; or the congregation of Israel is in bitterness of spirit, in great affliction and distress; her name might be rightly called Marah; see Ruth 1:20.

m נוגות "moestae", Junius Tremellius, Michaelis "moerent", Piscator; "moestitia affectae sunt", Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Zion, as the holy city, is the symbol of the religious life of the people, just as Judah in the previous verse represents their national life. The “virgins” took a prominent part in all religious festivals Jeremiah 31:13; Exodus 15:20.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Lamentations 1:4. The ways of Zion do mourn — A fine prosopopoeia. The ways in which the people trod coming to the sacred solemnities, being now no longer frequented, are represented as shedding tears; and the gates themselves partake of the general distress. All poets of eminence among the Greeks and Romans have recourse to this image. So Moschus, in his Epitaph on Bion, ver. 1-3: -

Αιλινα μοι στροναχειτε ναπαι, και Δωριον ὑδωρ

Και ποταμοι κλαιοιτε τον ἱμεροεντα Βιωνα.

Νυν φυτα μοι μυρεσθε, και αλσεα νυν γοαοισθε, κ. τ. λ.

"Ye winds, with grief your waving summits bow,

Ye Dorian fountains, murmur as ye flow;

From weeping urns your copious sorrows shed,

And bid the rivers mourn for Bion dead.

Ye shady groves, in robes of sable hue,

Bewail, ye plants, in pearly drops of dew;

Ye drooping flowers, diffuse a languid breath,

And die with sorrow, at sweet Bion's death."

FAWKES.

So Virgil, AEn. vii., ver. 759: -

Te nemus Anguitiae, vitrea te Fucinus unda

Te liquidi flevere lacus.

"For thee, wide echoing, sighed th' Anguitian woods;

For thee, in murmurs, wept thy native floods."

And more particularly on the death of Daphnis, Eclog. v. ver. 24: -

Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus

Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina: nulla neque amnem

Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam.

Daphni, tuum Poenos etiam ingemuisse leones

Interitum, montesque feri, sylvaeque loquuntur.

"The swains forgot their sheep, nor near the brink

Of running waters brought their herds to drink:

The thirsty cattle of themselves abstained

From water, and their grassy fare disdained.

The death of Daphnis woods and hills deplore;

The Libyan lions hear, and hearing roar."

DRYDEN.